Jack in the pulpit will last all summer if it is pollinated. Red and white baneberry usually last, too.

Rhonda

Goldenseal, gingers [american and european], black cohosh, jewelweed, woodruff as ground cover, corydalis, hellebores, hostas of all sorts, lots of options.

Ina dry summer most natives will go dormant. If every summer is dry they probably won't survive more than one or two years. If Smilacina and Polygonatum and ferns do well, it can't be too dry. So the above suggestions will probably work. Then too it depends how sunny the spot is. My maidenhair ferns need shade; the ones that got the afternoon sun petered out.

I guess I am over exaggerating a bit. We do have some pretty wacky wet summers round here. Last year there was a tornado around here!

Thanks for suggestions. I'll try to look into those when I head up to Nasami Farm Native Plant Nursery.

My columbine last, astilbe, fern leaf bleeding heart,

Tiarella and heuchera (Coral bells).

solomon's seal

I have Chelone lyonii (pink turtlehead) in a fairly shady bed on the NE side of my house, and it has lovely pink blooms in mid/late fall when most everything else has finished.

I forgot one of my absolute favorites...
wood poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum), sometimes called Celandine poppies! They start early, and bloom in April and through May, and are lovely feathery mounds of foliage, 1-2 feet high. At least in southern Michigan, they tolerate full summer heat and are reasonably drought-tolerant. They bloom long, and the foliage stays lovely into fall. They will self-seed, but not invasively, and are easy to weed out if they get in the wrong place. They will take light to deep shade. Great plants!

Hepatica leaves stick around year-round, though they can get pretty ragged.

I do have some of those plants already. Solomon's Seal, columbine, astilbe is next to the water garden which can easily be moved. We are on a budget so I steal other plants from my other gardens. Mainly my dads.

Thanks for the GREAT help.

Now to go on the hunt for these guys.

toad lily, astilbe, foxglove, hosta, my ostrich ferns don't go dormant, ajuga,creeping jenny, vinca,

Columbine, wild geranium, thimbleweed.

Natives-
Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum)
Galax urceolata
Patridgeberry (Mitchella repens)
Yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima)
Greek valerian (Polemonium reptans)
Hearts-a-bursting (Euonymus americana)
Rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera sp.) 3 sp. in MA
Crippled cranefly Orchid-Tipularia discolor(foliage dies down in summer, then flower stem emerges)
'Annabelle' Hydrangea arborescens
Sweet shrub (Calycanthus floridus)
Dwarf Crested Iris (cristata)
Trillium sp. (if they set seed, foliage remains until seed ripen, often late summer)
Spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata)
Doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana) 'Girard's Rainbow' is a particularly attractive cultivar with multi-color foliage.

Non-Native- (but, not invasive)
Epimediums
Dwarf Conifers(Chamacyparis pisifera)
Dwarf Pieris japonica (Compacta, Pigmy, Cavatine, Bolero)
Good hunting!
Rb